CANON 30d
| Designer | Canon |
| Dates | 21 February 2006, (an upgrade over previous 20d) |
Description
The canon 30d is a digital SLR camera adjusted for the use of professionals as well as amateurs. It’s a semi-professional camera, which provides a wide range of possibilities. Canon 30d is an upgrade of a very successful model – 20d.
The body is made out of magnesium alloy. The camera delivers 8.2 Megapixel resolution, which the next after the best one 35mm. The image can be saved in a format of JPEG or RAW format, which can later be transformed to any different one. The camera can come with 60 different lenses according to your choice. It is possible to use it in a studio.The images are being saved to a CF (compact flash) card. The battery is rechargeable and may last up to 750 hours. The camera comes with the charger. A battery grip is also available, but with an additional charge.
The menu is available is several languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Russian. A wide range of modes (Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, No Flash, Program AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, A-DEP), are useful for professionals as well as amateurs.
It is possible to print the images directly form the camera. And also download them to the PC or MAC (compatible with both) through USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (Mini-B, PTP) or watch them on the screen - Video output (PAL/ NTSC). The camera comes with a flash, not very powerful but often useful. Software for browsing, printing, and image manipulation is also included.
A Personal View
I chose to write about this particular camera as it is my first SLR digital camera ever and I find it amazingly easy to use. I find it an incredible piece of design and engineering. This particular model has got the biggest LCD screen out of all of the Canon SLR digital cameras, which gives much better view of the captured images. One of my favourite features is a wide range of the ISO speed (even up to 3200 with a special setting), which allows me to take pictures in any conditions. What I use most often is the creative zone of the external menu, especially the aperture priority mode – you choose the aperture and the camera adjusts all the other settings automatically. I fount it extremely useful for studio. The camera is able to save the images as JPEG and RAW file at the same time, which allows me to have a high quality record as well as a small preview. I’m very pleased with a very long lasting battery, which has never let me down.
I take my Canon 30d wherever I go and capture everything that catches my eye. Because the camera is a digital one I can take as many shots as I want and not thing about the cost of film processing. It saves my money and allows me to experiment. Although the camera is heavy in comparison to any compact one, it gives much higher quality of the image and looks really professional which, in my opinion, compensates for it.
Context
Canon is known as one of the best, if not the best camera producer. It is well known in most countries around the world. The company has been around for almost 70 years now.
The Canon brand is trusted the world over – the Financial Times placed Canon at number 25 among the world’s most respected companies, out of over 1000 companies. Business Week places the brand in position 35 among the best global brands and Fortune magazine placed Canon at number 30 in its All Star list for the World’s most admired companies in 2005 and at number 5 in the computer industry. The rankings were based on a worldwide survey of 10,000 directors, executives and security analysts at major companies.
It is CMOS technology and a high speed DIGIT II processor, which is the key to success. With noise reduction circuitry at each pixel site, Canon’s CMOS sensors have lower noise and lower power consumption characteristics than CCD sensors.
Canon 30d is an upgrade over the 20d model, which was released in August 2004. The previous models are: EOS D30 (April 2000), D60 (February 2002), 10D (February 2003), and 20D. As the models are being upgraded the amount of pixels and auto focus points and the speed of the camera are increasing. The difference between 20D and 30D is not a major one. 30d was equipped with a bigger screen and few more automatic settings e.g. for portraits. It’s also a bit faster, but a non professional won’t even notice the difference. Another Canon model which is also worth mentioning is EOS digital 350d. It has been a great success of Canon production. This model is strikingly small and easy to handle. The amount of Mega pixels is the same as in 20D or 30D, there isn’t a major difference in the amount of settings either. Canon 350d is lighter, cheaper but slower and it's more easy to damage it as the body is made out of plastic.
Links
www.canon.co.uk - canon home website with details of the camera, history of the company and many others
www.dpreview.com - a detailed description of the camera and the explaination of canon technologies
en.wikipedia.org - description of the upgrades over the 20d model
| Author: | Alicja Dobrucka | Date: | 22 March 2007 |